The regional and national leadership of Progressive Democrats of America will be in Pennsylvania this week for a series of events to support a state improved-Medicare-for-all, single-payer healthcare system.

"The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which recently became law, will not solve the healthcare crisis in this country," said Tim Carpenter, PDA national director. "The Medicare system proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that government can do some things much better than the private sector," Carpenter explained. "Healthcare corporations exist only to deliver profits for their stockholders--they do not actually provide healthcare."

VENTURA, CA. - March 17, 2010 - On Saturday, April 17th at 7 PM the California Conference of Veterans and Military Families are welcoming the community to join them in a special event to be held at the beautiful Pierpont Inn located at 550 San Jon Road, Ventura, CA.

The event will feature Dr. Michael Parenti speaking on “Empire vs Veterans, Who Pays and Who Benefits from Global Wars,” Col. Ann Wright speaking on “Sexual Abuse in the Military,” and Marjorie Cohn on “Rules of Disengagement.” Each of the three speakers are internationally recognized and accomplished individuals.

AN INVITATION FROM: After Downing Street, Arab American Union Members Council, Black Agenda Report, Campaign for Peace and Democracy, Campus Antiwar Network, Code Pink, Iraq Veterans Against the War, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations, Peace of the Action, Progressive Democrats of America, U.S. Labor Against the War, The Fellowship of Reconciliation, Veterans for Peace, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom [list in formation]

CIRCLE THESE DATES!!

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Announcing…

A National Conference

ToBring the Troops Home Now!

July 23-25, 2010, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Albany, New York

The purpose of this conference is to bring together antiwar and social justice activists from across the country to discuss and decide what we can do together to end the wars, occupations, bombing attacks, threats and interventions that are taking place in the Middle East and beyond, which the U.S. government is conducting and promoting. Attend and voice your opinion on where the antiwar movement is today and where we go from here.

In these deeply troubled times, Washington's two wars and occupations rage on, resulting in an ever increasing number of dead and wounded; more and more civilians killed in drone bombing attacks; misery, deprivation, dislocation and shattered lives for millions; and a suicide rate for U.S. service members soaring to unprecedented heights. At the same time, trillions are spent on these seemingly endless Pentagon conflicts waged in pursuit of profits and global domination while trillions more are lost by working people in the value of their homes, in the loss of their jobs, pensions and health care, and in cuts for public services and vitally needed social programs.

We are witness to the massive bailout of banks and corporations while union contracts are shredded, work is outsourced, jobs are shipped off-shore, workers are evicted from their homes, and our youth and students face a bleak future of rising tuition costs, an ever-declining quality of education, and diminishing employment opportunities. They are offered instead the opportunity to become cannon fodder as the military serves as the employer of last resort while prison awaits many others.

The poor and working people in the U.S. suffer the horrors of unemployment, foreclosures, homelessness, untreated illnesses and unavailable health insurance, crumbling infrastructure, and temporary and part time work at starvation wages. These multiple crises impact communities of color with disproportionate severity. Meanwhile people in a growing number of countries around the world are subjected to death and destruction by the world’s most powerful military machine.

There is another dimension to this tragedy. The U.S. is at war to control and plunder the very fossil fuel resources whose continued use threatens the future of the human race.

We demand the immediate and total withdrawal of U.S. military forces, mercenaries andcontractors from Afghanistan and Iraq. Moreover, we recognize that the Middle East cauldron today also encompasses Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Palestine and Israel, while Haiti, Honduras, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba and other countries in Latin America are targeted for intervention, subversion, occupation and control as a consequence of a militarized U.S. foreign policy. Our challenge is not only to end wars and occupations, but to fundamentally change the aggressive policies that inevitably lead our country to militarism and war.

The fight for better times, for a world of peace, justice and freedom, requires that we join together to make it happen, that we fight for the broad unity within the antiwar movement and across all the movements for social justice that has to date escaped us and that we collaborate to engage the American people in massive and united mobilizations against the warmakers and for the justice we deserve.

We have not forgotten the lessons of the civil rights movement, the struggle against the Vietnam War, the feminist and gay rights movements, and the monumental struggles that paved the way to the organization of American trade unions. History has demonstrated time and again that all critical social change is a product of the direct and massive intervention of the people.

We seek an inclusive conference where antiwar individuals and organizations come together to democratically discuss, debate and approve a plan of action aimed at winning the support and allegiance of the majority who have the power to compel a fundamental re-ordering of priorities.

We announce in advance that our goal is to develop strategies that unite us in action – for mass mobilizations and a variety of other tactics that suit the agendas of the constituent groups and individuals who participate in the conference proceedings. Our method is democracy. One person one vote! Our goal is unity in action while respecting our diversity and differences in political program and orientation.

Join us in Albany, New York, July 23-25, 2010!

Issued by the United National Antiwar Conference (UNAC) Planning Committee

"WE THE CORPORATIONS?" Life & Law in the U.S.A. after Citizens United v. FEC

When: Friday, April 16th, 2010
Where: University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, Wisconsin

On January 21st, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. An avalanche of criticism from grassroots organizations, members of Congress, and the President of the United States followed. Hundreds of thousands of Americans signed motions calling for action to overrule the Court -- including amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

"We the Corporations?" Life & Law in the U.S.A. after Citizens United v. FEC is a one day conference addressing that historic decision, and featuring reactions to it from some of the nation's leading democracy campaigners and experts on the doctrine of corporate constitutional rights.

Hosted by the UW-Madison National Lawyers Guild ~ Sponsored by the Liberty Tree Foundation, Center for Media and Democracy, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign ~ Cosponsored by the A.E. Havens Center for the Study of Social Structure and Social Change, Madison Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, with more to be invited.

Jay Bybee, the former head of the Office of Legal Counsel, justified and authorized clear acts of torture by the CIA during the Bush Era. Bybee was confirmed as a federal judge to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2003, well before his now infamous torture memos came to light. A lifetime appointment, he sits in a deciding position on the bench when there is clear evidence that his judgment is tainted...

Mar 24 Wednesday noon-1:15pm, Irvine: Protest Torture Lawyer John Yoo War crime charge(s): * Complicity in the commission of a war crime - torture, ill-treatment of detainees. * Drafted legal memos saying President Bush could waive the Geneva Conventions regarding the invasion of Afghanistan by labeling it a failed state and that prisoners seized during that operation would not be covered by the Geneva Convention protections. * Issued other legal memos arguing that the commander in chief was justified in ordering torture during wartime.

"The History of Executive War Power - Libertarian/Conservative Throwdown!" Debate and discussion based on John Yoo's just released book "Crisis and Command" Debate between John Yoo and Bob Barr
11:30am (Registration); 11:45am (Lunch); 12:00-1:15 (Debate between John Yoo and Bob Barr)
The Sports Club LA/OC. 1980 Main Street, Irvine, CA 92614. (949) 975-8400.

(This article is based on one that will appear in the upcoming May/June 2010 issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: http://www.wrmea.com)

Sunday, March 14, 2010, ushered in two welcome events to Southern California: the inauguration of the headquarters of the bustling Winograd For Congress primary campaign, and an extra hour of daylight to help Marcy Winograd’s swarm of supporters evict Jane Harman, the wealthiest Democrat in Congress, from her eight-term seat in the House.

Anne Feeney sings songs about what she believes in/ PEACE AND JUSTICE FOR ALL! She has said of her music: "It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable." Come and enjoy this inspiring musician as she introduces her new CD and performs on the Sacred Lands Dolphin Stage, 1700 Park Street North, St. Petersburg, Florida. Opening for Anne: Louise "Goody Haines" and Tom Scadero.

$15.00 for the concert/ Dinner is $8.00. Dinner reservations and advance tickets advised.

"SEVEN YEARS TOO MANY," NEW YORK PEACE GROUPS TO PROCLAIM AS EIGHTH YEAR IN IRAQ BEGINS

On March 20, 2003, the U.S. illegally and immorally invaded Iraq.

To mark the seven years since our occupation began, a compendium of New York peace groups will take to the streets March 19 and 20 and demand that all troops, including those in Afghanistan, be brought home NOW.

Ten anti-war groups, united for the occasion as "The Seven Years Too Many" Coalition, will rally on Friday, March 19, at noon at the Chambers St. Army recruiting center at 143 Chambers & West Broadway, then march to the nearby Marine Corps recruiting office, on to the Borough of Manhattan Community College, and finishing at the Vesey St. PATH entrance at the World Trade Center site for leafletting with signs and banners.

The next day, Saturday, March 20, the protesters will hold a rally at the Times Square Army recruiting center, 44th St. at 7th Ave, from 1 to 2 p.m. A Question & Answer format will be employed with signs showing the human (soldiers, civilians, journalists) and monetary costs of war in response to chanted questions.

Labor and advocacy groups organized "brown bag" lunch vigils against war funding in 22 congressional districts in January and 67 in February. Currently 82 are planned for March 17th, with more being added. Organizations participating include: Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), AfterDowningStreet, the Backbone Campaign, Democrats.com, the California Nurses Association / National Nurses Organizing Committee, Healthcare Now, CodePINK, and United for Peace and Justice.

On March 10th, 65 members of Congress voted to end the occupation of Afghanistan. Yet only 14 have publicly committed to voting No on funding the same war. A $33 billion supplemental spending bill for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is expected to be voted on in April or May. Brownbaggers are asking members of the House to publicly commit to voting No on any bills that fund wars, and to publicly urge their colleagues and the House leadership to make the same commitment. As lesser steps in the same direction, the Brown Bag Vigils are encouraging congress members to cosponsor HR 2454, calling for an exit strategy from Afghanistan, and HR 3699, prohibiting any increase in the number of U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan. Congress members' commitments are tracked at http://defundwar.org.

Vigil participants, who support a shift in resources from warfare to healthcare, are also asking their representatives to join the growing movement calling for "Medicare for All" by demanding passage of the Kucinich amendment facilitating state-level single-payer healthcare and by offering their support to single-payer efforts moving forward in state legislatures, including in California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Join us as we lead up to WRL actions at the NPT Review Conference this May!

Join the War Resisters League in NYC April 30-May 3 for four days of creative nonviolent protest and support a call for unilateral U.S. disarmament at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference at the UN Headquarters.

In 1982, the War Resisters League initiated "Blockade the Bombmakers," organizing mass actions at the Missions to the United Nations of each of the five nuclear powers on the first day of the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament. In total, nearly 1,700 people were arrested in the blockades, which followed a march involving an estimated one million people.

Today, there are nine nuclear powers and the dangers of nuclear proliferation are even more acute than 28 years ago. Despite the White House's pledge to seek a world without nuclear weapons, the 2011 federal budget for nuclear weapons research and development is likely to be more than $7 billion and could (if the Obama administration has its way) reach $8 billion per year by the end of this decade. This steady and growing investment stands in stark contrast to the promising U.S. rhetoric of disarmament.

The 2010 NPT Review Conference represents a key juncture in the work for nuclear disarmament and a vital opportunity to put pressure on the U.S. government and kick-start the anti-nuclear movement. The War Resisters League is organizing a Monday, May 3rd action to deliver a strong message to the United Nations delegates. We are also organizing a WRL contingent and panel discussion for the Disarm Now! international march and alternative conference happening that weekend as WRL joins with thousands of anti-nuclear activists from around the world in resistance to nuclear build-up and global militarism.

Join us to demand complete and unilateral nuclear disarmament and to insist that action for disarmament, not more talking, is needed. We will be meeting in-person and by phone to shape and finalize the action over the next month and will offer nonviolence training on Sunday, May 2nd. To find out more and to sign up or get involved, please email WRL Organizing Coordinator Kimber Heinz at kimber@warresisters.org.

Days before torture memo architect John Yoo speaks at University of Virginia (protest plans), two New York artists are to present a new composition in Charlottesville built around excerpts of poetry written by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Composer Annea Lockwood and new music baritone Thomas Buckner will perform their latest collaboration, In Our Name, in a concert at The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative on Saturday March 13, 8pm.

In Our Name draws upon poetry by three prisoners, Jumah Al Dossari, Emad Abdullah Hassan and Osama Abu Kabir, whose work first came to prominence through the publication of 2007 anthology, Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak, edited by Marc Falkoff, University of Iowa Press.

Forbidden access to pen or paper, some of the Guantanamo prisoners wrote poetry using toothpaste or by scratching onto styrophone cups with pebbles. The US military has declared that poetry coming from Guantanamo "presents a special risk", and that allegorical imagery might convey coded messages to outside militants. But speaking to the Independent, Falkoff argued that the poems' real potency lies in the "power of words to make people outside realize that these are human beings who have not had their day in court."

Annea Lockwood is a composer and sound artist known for her use of environmental sound and life narratives, from her infamous piano burnings of the 60s and 70s to her recordings of volcanoes, earthquakes and the Hudson and Danube rivers. In 2000 Lockwood was included in the Whitney Museum's major sound art retrospective, I Am Sitting in a Room: Sound Works by American Artists 1950-2000. Her numerous compositions include Jitterbug, commissioned by Merce Cunningham Dance Company for the dance eyeSpace.

Thomas Buckner, a former student of legendary Metropolitan Opera baritone Martial Singher, and trained in the classical tradition, has for the last forty years dedicated himself to the world of new and improvised music. Along the way, Buckner has performed with many of the world's top musicians, including Roscoe Mitchell, Phill Niblock, Gerald Oshita, Borah Bergman, Wu Man and Earl Howard. More than 70 composers have created works for him, including Robert Ashley, Morton Subotnick, Annea Lockwood and Alvin Lucier.

Teach-in - 12 Noon - 2 PM
at A. E. England Auditorium, 424 N. Central,
The first building north of Main Transit Terminal (north of Polk Street -west side of Central)
across from the Walter Cronkite School of Communication.
Parking at Central and Filmore - $4.00 All Day

Anthony J. Hall, Professor of Globalization Studies at the University of Lethbridge, wrote today, March 10th:

Judge Manfred Delong shut down the trial of Splitting The Sky versus George W. Bush on the second day of proceedings. The court denied STS his frequently emphasized request to have two witnesses give evidence in his defense. Those witnesses were myself and Cynthia McKinney. The trial came to an end just as Ms. McKinney arrived in Calgary from London. The US-based oil conglomerates active throughout Alberta form the core business constituency of the Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who represents a Calgary riding in Parliament.

The court accepted two documents as evidence for the defense. On is Gail Davidson's widely disseminated legal opinion for Lawyer's Against the War. STS and I studied this document closely in the days leading up to my friend being arrested for his arrest attempt. LAW's legal opinion highlighted some of the evidence, statutes and treaties to brand Bush as a "credibly accused war criminal" that should not be allowed into Canada. Prior to Bush's touching down in Calgary to address an audience of oil executives, Davidson's documemtation was distributed widely to officials of the Harper government and Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The other exhibit for the defense was my own paper that I originally presented at an invited academic venue at the University of Winnipeg. It has been published under a variety of titles on the Internet, including at Global Research.ca, 911 Blogger.com, 9/11 Truth.org and Voltairenet in both French and English. My initial title for it is "Bush League Justice: Should George W. Bush Be Arrested in Calgary Alberta and Tried for International Crimes."

Delong will deliver his ruling on June 7. The case for the prosecution both revealed and obscured much about the new police strategies being employed throughout North America to monitor, manage, divide and spin doctor demonstrators seeking to call attention to their political dissent. In my opinion the Crown's chief agent of prosecution, Tracy Davis, acted more as an advocate and defender of the police rather than as a representative of the Canadian people through Her Majesty as she is required to do according the constitutional tradition of the British Commonwealth.

This week, two protest demonstrations will focus on John Yoo and his former Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) superior, Jay Bybee, when both men make Bay Area public appearances. The demonstrations are sponsored by The World Can’t Wait and other anti-torture organizations, lawyers, and activists.

** Tuesday, March 9, steps of UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall), Berkeley

PRESS CONFERENCE 12:30 PM [followed by protest action]

John Yoo will speak, moderating a Federalist Society lunch program at Boalt,“The Ninth Amendment and Unenumerated Rights” from 12:40-1:40 PM.

The tea and coffee parties have cornered the market on vacuous meanness and niceness, respectively. But brownbagging is where the substance and sustenance are. Every third Wednesday of the month, those who want war defunded and everything useful funded are bringing brown bag lunches to vigil at their congress member's local office. This month that means March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. And that means more than food: Kicking off the Green Beer Party.

The "Safeguard the Guard Act", Assembly Bill 203, would establish the governor's authority to, "examine every federal order that places the Wisconsin national guard on federal active duty to determine if that order is lawful and valid," and furthermore, "to take appropriate action . . . to prevent the Wisconsin national guard from being placed
on federal active duty," should the federalization order be deemed unlawful or invalid.

Organic Activists Will Dump Sewage Sludge and Hold a Press Conference on the Steps of San Francisco City Hall March 4 at Noon

Bay Area Gardeners Will Give Back Toxic Sewage Sludge that City Distributed
Using the Ruse of “Organic Compost”

SAN FRANCISCO, February 23, 2010 -- Community gardeners who were misled into
accepting toxic sewage sludge from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) are giving the sludge back to the Mayor¹s office at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place on March 4th at 12 Noon.

Twice a year since 2007, the SFPUC has hosted “Compost Giveaway Events” in locations throughout the city. Although the city has marketed the material as “organic compost” or “organic fertilizer,” it turns out that it is really toxic sludge generated by San Francisco and seven other counties’ industrial, hospital, commercial and residential sewage. Residents who had lined up at the giveaways were outraged to learn of SFPUC¹s bait-and-switch.

Gordon Brown has as much blood on his hands as Tony Blair for the illegal war in Iraq. As chancellor of the exchequer from 2003 to 2009, he was paymaster for the war, the cost of which was approximately £6.5bn -- roughly £1bn each year -- which equates to about £100 spent for every man, woman and child in Britain.

On Friday 5 March Brown will be giving evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry and Stop the War will be there to protest against both his culpability for the Iraq disaster and for his escalation of the war in Afghanistan.

Some analysts say the Afghan war has already cost twice as much as spending on Iraq and the bill of £12bn works out at £190 for every man, woman and child, which would pay for 23 new hospitals, 60,000 new teachers or 77,000 new nurses.

Join Stop the War's protest when Brown appears at the Iraq Inquiry on Friday. We want to ensure that he cannot present himself as an innocent bystander when Blair took Britain into a war that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

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